South Korea's health agency said Saturday that a total of 108 people died after receiving seasonal flu vaccines this year, with the authorities concluding 107 of the deaths had no direct causal relations with their inoculations. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency added one more death to its running tally of those who died after getting flu shots, amid public anxiety over the safety of vaccines. "As a result of epidemiological investigation and deliberations by a damage surve

Students line up to get tested for COVID-19 on Thursday morning after a new case was reported at a middle school in Seo-gu in Gwangju. The infected student is said to have come into contact with another infected student from a different school and with family members as well. Medical workers in protective gear are preparing for COVID-19 testing at the school. COVID-19 cases are spreading in schools despite stricter social distancing levels. There are rising concerns over student COVID-19 cases

The “street of youth” full of people crowded together is no longer to be expected in western Seoul’s Hongdae.  As the nation‘s new daily COVID-19 infection cases faced a sudden rise that exceeded 500 on Thursday, the concern of a third wave of the pandemic has deepened. Meanwhile, the social distancing level has been raised to Level 2 in order to prevent the further spread of the virus. (Photos: Yonhap) By Lee Jae-Eun (leeje16@heraldcorp.com)

An Army artillery school in southwestern South Korea has reported large-scale coronavirus infections among its soldiers, local health authorities said Saturday. Sixteen soldiers undergoing training or stationed at the Sangmudae Artillery School in Jangseong, 310 kilometers south of Seoul, were diagnosed with COVID-19 on Saturday after an Army officer from the same compound tested positive for the virus the previous day, the authorities said. All of the 16 new patients had come into contact wit

South Korea on Saturday confirmed this year's first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza among domestic poultry at a duck farm in a southwestern province. The agriculture ministry said a virus detected from ducks at a farm in Jeongeup, a North Jeolla Province city about 290 kilometers south of Seoul, in a pre-shipment test Thursday has been confirmed as the highly pathogenic bird flu of the H5N8 strain. It marked the first confirmed case of highly pathogenic AI detected among domestic pou

The daily number of new coronavirus cases in South Korea exceeded 500 for the third straight day Saturday, as health authorities face growing pressure to toughen social distancing restrictions amid continued sporadic infections across the country. The country added 504 more COVID-19 cases, including 486 local infections, raising the total caseload to 33,375, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. It reported six additional coronavirus fatalities, bringing the total to 522

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Friday that South Korea has confirmed more than 500 COVID-19 infections for the second consecutive day and warned that the virus appears to be spreading again in earnest nationwide. "As the number of newly confirmed COVID-19 patients reached above 500 for the second straight day (as of the start of Friday), it's a situation in which a resurgence is getting into full swing in our country as well," Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said during a meeting o

Opposition parties on Friday submitted a written request for an investigation led by the National Assembly into the justice minister’s unprecedented action to suspend the top prosecutor from duty. The request was signed by 110 lawmakers -- 103 from the main opposition People Power Party, three from the minor People’s Party and four independent lawmakers. The procedural legitimacy of the disciplinary actions taken by Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae against Prosecutor General Yoon Seok

The government will push for a new law to drastically raise punishments for stalking perpetrators, the Ministry of Justice said Friday. The ministry made a prior announcement of the plan for the legislation via the government gazette, which calls for punishing convicted stalkers with up to five years in prison. Under the new law, acts of continuously or repeatedly approaching, following or blocking a victim against his or her will; waiting for or watching a victim in and around his or her resi

SEONGJU -- The defense ministry's latest attempt to bring non-weapon materials and construction equipment onto a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) base in central South Korea on Friday ran into fierce protests from local residents and civic activists opposed to the deployment of the American missile defense system. About 70 residents and activists gathered on a bridge leading to the base for the THAAD system in the central town of Seongju, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, to b

Nearly 900 migrant workers were deported or arrested over a three-month period after being caught working illegally in South Korea, the Ministry of Justice said Friday. Immigration authorities have rounded up 1,294 illegal foreign workers from Aug. 1 to Nov. 2 before deporting 885 of them out of the country and placing four others under arrest, the ministry said. They also busted 254 employers of illegal migrant workers and imposed a fine on 232 of them, the ministry said, adding 17 others wer

The number of weekday moviegoers in South Korea dropped this week under the heightened antivirus curbs during the third wave of the new coronavirus pandemic, data showed Friday. The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) said 83,050 and 60,891 visited theaters on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, down from 91,175 and 86,091 from the previous Wednesday and Thursday. The figure is expected to be in further decline as concerns are swelling over a recent hike in COVID-19 cases. The daily caseload of the

A Seoul court on Friday fined Yang Hyun-suk, former CEO of YG Entertainment, over charges of high-stakes gambling he committed while abroad on numerous occasions. The Seoul Western District Court found him guilty of gambling at Las Vegas casinos in the United States over the past several years and ordered him to pay a fine of 15 million won ($13,600). The court said his behavior could "have a bad influence on the public, especially young people," but that it considered Yang showed re

A revised law will require 12 more types of facilities to follow school bus safety regulations starting Friday, police said. The new categories include alternative schools, international schools and public libraries, according to the National Police Agency. The six original types of facilities were kindergartens, elementary schools, special education schools, day care centers, academic institutes and sports facilities. "The added 12 are frequently used by children and operate buses for th

South Korea's top court said Friday it has upheld a lower court's ruling in favor of a Chinese company in a dispute with a Korean desert cafe chain over a licensing fee. The Supreme Court confirmed the previous ruling that ordered Sulbing, one of the country's biggest dessert cafe chains, to return the licensing fee of 956 million won ($864,000) to the Chinese company. The Chinese company signed a contract with Sulbing to open a chain in Shanghai in 2015, which would be directly managed by th